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The Standard Building

Sep 23
2 min read

Completed in April 1875, the Standard Building was designed by Mason & Wales for the Standard Fire and Marine Insurance Company. Designed in the Italian style, the building comprised three storeys and a basement. The ground-floor windows and doors formed an arcade supported by columns with moulded bases and capitals. Each floor contained offices and a fireproof strong room. The Standard Fire and Marine Insurance Company occupied only the ground floor, while the upper floors were leased to Messrs Sievwright and Stout, solicitors.



  • Standard Building, 2026
  • Princes Street, Dunedin, circa 1885, Dunedin, by Burton Brothers, (Te Papa C.011756)
  • Princes Street c.1900 (Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 4-7305)
  • (Building Plan 1906 771, DCC Archives)
  • National Bank of New Zealand, Princes Street c.1975 (Dunedin City Council Archives)

The Standard Insurance Company remained in the building until 1884, when it moved to new premises in Lower High Street. In 1900, Samuel Gardham opened Café Cecil in the building, adding a fishmonger’s shop in 1904. In 1906, an extension was constructed at the rear to provide a warehouse and sample rooms for E Stokes and Sons Limited, tailors.


Around 1925, fishmonger William Stewart, who had previously operated across the street, took over the fishmongery. Stewart’s Ltd, later known as Stewart’s Fish Supply, traded from the Standard Building until 1995. In 1961, Café Cecil became Canton Cafe, a Chinese restaurant that operated on the first floor until 1994, when it relocated to the opposite side of Princes Street.


The building subsequently lay vacant for many years before being purchased by Exchange Renaissance Limited (Ted Daniels and Wayne Marsh), which set out to restore the building to its former appearance with support from the Dunedin Heritage Fund. The facade, which had been stripped of much of its ornamentation in the 1950s, was reconstructed using historic photographs as a guide. This work returned the building largely to its original external appearance, while retaining the later shopfront.


We are running a tour of the Standard Building on Saturday 10 October at 11am.


References:

Otago Daily Times, Issue 4102, 12 April 1875, Page 7

Evening Star, Issue 14701, 19 October 1911, Page 5

Murray, D. (2013). Standard Building, Scheduled Heritage Place Record Form. Dunedin City Council.

Kerr, E. (2011). Former Standard Insurance building 201 Princes St, Dunedin. What if? Dunedin….



We are grateful to Prue Milbank for the above article.





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